Trump Government Withdraws Training Programme of Pakistan

United States suspended today military training programme of Pakistan following pact signed between Islamabad and Moscow to allow the country’s troop to receive training at the Russian defence centres.

Tuesday was the first Joint Military Consultative Committee (JMCC) meeting between the two nations and an agreement was signed then after discussion of bilateral defence relations. It was agreed the Pakistani troops would receive training at the Russian military training institutes even though the same benefit has been received for more than a decade at the US institutes in Pakistan.

Earlier this year the relations with Washington nosedived after President Donald Trump accused Pakistan of giving nothing to them but “lies and deceit”, providing “safe haven” to terrorists too.

Meanwhile, the US Congress emphasized reducing defence aid to Pakistan by passing a bill to cut it to USD 150 million.

The Trump government said in January the country was suspending security assistance to Pakistan but the training programmes for military officers would continue as it is.

Since 1960s Pakistani officers have been receiving such training but it was suspended in the 1990s for a brief period and was restored after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Pakistan has not yet comment on the new move of the Trump government but lately showed eagerness in building military-to-military level ties with Russia. Khawaja Asif, the then foreign minister of Pakistan, had visited Moscow and both the nations agreed to boost military cooperation.